The interaction of polarization charges in freely suspended smectic-C* films

The fluctuations of the director orientation in a freely suspended smectic-C* film were theoretically inves- tigated. In the free energy expression of the film, not only were the elastic energy and the weak external electric field interaction considered, the interaction of polarization charges arising from fluctuations of the polarization vector were also included. The correlation function of the director fluctuations was obtained for a film of finite thickness. Calculations of light scattering intensity were provided. It has been found that due to the interaction of polarization charges, the angular dependence of the scattering intensity significantly depends on the magnitude of spontaneous polarization.